Recruitment of distinct basal ganglia territories at different stages of motor processing: from planning to execution

Purpose: The basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuits are viewed as segregated parallel feed back loops crucially involved in motor control, cognition, and emotional processing. So far, there is only limited data on the differential roles of the basal ganglia when proceeding from movement planning to movement execution. Recent fMRI studies have demonstrated rostro-caudal shifts of activity within the basal ganglia during planning and execution of simple, automated finger movements. Using event related fMRI, we aimed to extend these data by analyzing the generation and execution of novel, cognitively demanding seq…